Statement

‘To Hells Canyon and Back,” Tracey Halvorsen’s first gallery exhibition since 2000, chronicles the physical and emotional journey of loss, rejection, introspection, self-discovery and eventual revival experienced over two years that she describes as “the explosion of everything seemingly stable and defining in my life at the time.” Walking into the unknown, challenging everything she came to know of herself personally and professionally, Halvorsen took refuge in her paintings to fully experience each moment of this evolution, allowing for a more holistic and honest reflection on the past, appreciation for the present and clarity of purpose for the future.A culmination of raw experience and casual observance, the paintings serve as a sort of travelogue, each capturing a period of time, a sequence of moments - whether surrounded by the Dolomites of Italy, before a still life of flowers in her studio or floating on the Snake River in Hell’s Canyon. When the moments are recorded as nothing more than color, movement, dance, sound, breath - they hold all the other moments in their voice, just as the images which may appear offer the promise of another experience beyond what is seen: the experience of what is felt.A studied painter for 35 years, much of the work in “To Hells Canyon and Back” documents a personal evolution in her life and her art that swings between illusion and abstraction, the outer image and the inner experience. Earlier pieces are interwoven, sharing what Halvorsen describes as an always-present, unexplainable and undeniable pull towards creative expression - a thread that often leads to unexpected places and allows for deeper connection with the mysteries of our human condition.For Halvorsen, the natural world was a childhood escape - a rich theater of elements to create elaborate and adventurous narratives. She returns to nature now for personal and artistic inspiration. The way light and color bend a flower stem in a clear glass of water or explode off a mountaintop covered in snow - each is its own story. The movements of animals in fields, or the compulsion to make a mark on a canvas spurred on by nothing more than the light and space the other marks are creating - is the story she seeks to capture.Brushwork and color, whether depicting something recognizable, or flowing into abstraction - are all attempts at finding a rhythm and flow that falls into place, breathes its own life, and ultimately pushes her out, as the creator. The places, objects and abstractions are all facilitators of the same journey, the same search. In it, a need for the depicted image (or illusion) lessens, leaving room for the color, the lines and the rhythm to take over. Mirroring an evolving internal journey to let go of the pull of illusion in life – her paintings refuse to allow only what is “seen and named” to dictate experience. As such, her work continues to move away from what “should be painted,” towards an exploration of what “must be painted”.

Biography

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​Tracey Halvorsen began painting while in high school in Bethesda, Maryland. She went on to receive a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art (1993) (where she graduated with the school's top prize, the Agnes Gund Travelling Scholarship), and an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art (1998). Halvorsen had a number of solo shows in Ohio, Maryland and in Del Ray Beach, Florida, where she was represented by the Carlynn Gallery.As Halvorsen's paintings evolved so did her interest in applying creativity to other medium, including digital. As an emerging digital artist, Halvorsen's work won a prestigious Flash Forward Film Festival Award in Amsterdam (2001), and propelled her further into the digital space. An entrepreneur at heart, she started her own digital design agency, Fastspot, in 1999, and grew that company into an award winning nationally recognized agency over the next 20 years. Halvorsen has returned to her true love, painting.